Lockdown at Jail Eased

Sheriff's office: Jail on lockdown until further notice

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Two women walk toward a visitor's entrance of a maximum security detention area of the Cook County jail February 12, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois.

A lockdown at the Cook County Jail was eased Friday afternoon, though authorities continued to search for a weapon believed to have been smuggled inside the facility.

The lockdown of all 10 divisions of the jail, at 3015 S. California Ave., was prompted after authorities received "credible information" that a gun may have brought in by a visitor or employee.

By Friday afternoon, the lockdown for all divisions except for Division 10 -- a maximum security facility housing more than 700 inmates charged with violent crimes -- was lifted.

All the other divisions are open for visitations and court movement, spokesman Steve Patterson said.

Mugs in the News

No one has been arrested, but authorities "continue to pursue leads relating to this information - both inside and outside the jail," he said.

During the lockdown, "the Sheriff's Police Hostage, Barricade and Terrorism Team and the Jail's Emergency Response Team - the equivalent of SWAT teams for those respective offices - teamed up to conduct a cell-by-cell search of Division 10," Patterson said in an earlier release. "As they did that, investigators with the Sheriff's Criminal Intelligence Unit - a group based at the jail which investigates crimes in the jail and tracks gang hierarchies - began pursuing leads and conducting interviews, as well."

No one has been injured or held hostage, Patterson said, adding that a previous report of an attempted escape is untrue.